The present invention relates, in general, to storage devices for use in vehicles such as automobiles, and more particularly to a device for storing, filing and securing in an orderly manner papers, books, flashlights, eyeglasses and like small articles within easy reach of a driver or passenger in the vehicle. The invention further relates to such a device which incorporates a detachable briefcase that also serves as a desk for use in the vehicle.
As a necessary adjunct to their job, many people today spend a large portion of their working hours riding in or driving automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles. Salesmen, business representatives and executives, for example, may spend a substantial part of their time traveling from one place of business to another, attending meetings, calling on customers, and the like, while other persons, such as taxi drivers, police officers, and delivery truck drivers, may conduct substantially all of their business in or from the vehicle itself. Such people tend to accumulate in their vehicles the papers and paraphenalia of their business, and since the conventionally provided storage areas such as glove compartments are generally small and inconveniently placed, such material accumulates on the seats, dashboard and floor of the vehicle. Such accumulations can create a real danger to the driver and passengers in the vehicle in the case of sudden stops or turns, in addition to being unsightly and inconvenient. Further, papers and other articles strewn about the vehicle are difficult to locate, often sliding out of reach when the vehicle is in motion, and this results in lost time when the material is to be located, and can divert the driver's attention from the road. Accordingly, there has long been a need for a convenient, easy to reach storage device for use in vehicles which would provide room for organized storage of the papers and other articles often carried in vehicles. Such a storage device must be securely mounted so as to avoid danger, must be conveniently located to the driver or passenger, should be easily removable, and should provide storage facilities for a variety of differently sized and shaped articles.
A difficulty often encountered by those who work in or from their vehicles is the lack of a suitable writing surface, and the lack of some means for carrying and storing personal items, papers, records and the like which are not to be left in the vehicle. Although desks and writing tables of various designs have been developed for use in vehicles, and briefcases and other carrying cases are conventionally used, the need has not been filled. Briefcases and other conventional carrying cases provide a convenient means for transporting articles to and from a vehicle, but become one more item to slide off the seat in a sudden stop, or to slide out of reach when the vehicle is driven around a corner, for no means are generally available to hold such cases in place. Further, writing tables and the like either are fixed in place, and thus may be inconveniently located, or are so portable as to present the problem discussed above; that is, they become one more loose object in the vehicle to endanger the driver and passengers.